Double Your Pleasure Bundle (21 page)

Eventually, Hugh left Chris to his slumber, knowing he would have to wake in just a few hours for his classes. Not just consideration for the young man had him leaving the bed. He wasn’t quite ready to spend the entire night with him. It was one thing to have emotions for the young man, but something entirely different to let those feelings consume him. He wasn’t ready for that; after the traumatic way he’d lost Lynne, he didn’t know if he would ever be prepared for a long-term commitment again, even if Chris wanted one.

Chapter Four

Chris found himself oddly shy around Hugh during the next few days. He answered whenever the other man summoned him, but otherwise, stayed out of his way. He thought he saw hurt reflected in Hugh’s eyes more than once, but couldn’t be certain. All he knew was the intensity of what he was feeling was freaking him out. He hadn’t felt so strongly about anyone before, except maybe Ness. To feel this way about Hugh, another man and a vampire, was discomfiting.

Late in the week, he realized he had been avoiding everyone, not just Hugh, when Ness cornered him after physics. She was still as beautiful as ever, with a peaches-and-cream complexion that perfectly complemented her golden hair, but he didn’t get the same ache in his stomach that normally assaulted him whenever she looked at him.

“Are you avoiding me?”

Chris shook his head. “No, of course not.” She touched his arm, making his heart race, and reassuring him that his feelings for her hadn’t faded. “I’ve just been busy with my new job.”

She nodded, the harsh fluorescent light somehow giving her an angelic aura. “You haven’t forgotten we’re going to study this weekend, have you? Finals in sociology are Monday.”

“Of course not.” He tried to keep his expression neutral to hide the fact he had forgotten. The situation with Hugh had so consumed his thoughts that he hadn’t had time to think of anything else.

“Is it okay if I come to your place? My roommate’s boyfriend is visiting this Friday through Sunday.” Ness rolled her eyes. “They’ll be going at it like bunnies the whole time. I don’t think we’ll be able to concentrate with that going on.”

“Uh…” Chris cleared his throat, managing to nod. “Sure. I’m sure that’s fine.”

“Great.” She squeezed his bicep. “Email me directions, ‘kay? I have to get to class.”

“Sure,” he said again, to her departing back. Her scent lingered, and he breathed in deeply to savor it. The heady aroma of magnolias usually triggered erotic thoughts of rolling with her in white cotton sheets bearing the same scent. This time, his brain conjured up the scent of Hugh’s cologne in comparison, and he once again recalled with vivid clarity how good it felt to make love with the other man. He didn’t want Ness any less than he had before meeting Hugh, but things had changed in a way he couldn’t clearly define.

*****

It wasn’t going at all as he’d planned. Chris gnashed his teeth to keep in the angry words wanting to fly out of his mouth as he watched Hugh fawn over Ness. Their study session was supposed to start with pizza in his room, along with subtly dimmed lighting. They were going to transition from books to the bed at some point, at least in Chris’s mental script he had created of the evening.

Instead, it had begun with Hugh unexpectedly being home. He usually went out on Saturday nights, so Chris hadn’t thought about him being there. He had escorted Ness inside the house, and they had run right into Hugh in the living room. Chris still burned remembering the intense way Hugh had gazed at Ness for half a minute. An uncomfortable silence had grown, and she shifted from foot to foot. Then Hugh seemed to collect himself. He had taken her hand and kissed it in a noble gesture as Chris introduced them.

Somehow, Ness had ended up with her hand tucked into the crook of Hugh’s arm, chatting away with him as if they were old friends, while Chris watched in brooding silence. When Hugh invited them to join him for dinner, she had accepted before he could refuse. That was how they ended up in the dining room, once again with Chris silently observing their flirtations. He jumped in surprise when Hugh stood up, placing his folded napkin on the table.

“Well, I must leave you. I know you have studying to do.”

Ness leaned toward him, her body language an open invitation. “No, please don’t. I’d love to talk more with you.”

Hugh hesitated, but shook his head. “I really can’t, dear. I have a lot of work to do, and I don’t want you to fail your final.”

She gave him a pouty look. “I don’t care about failing.”

He smiled. “Come back next Friday. We’ll have the Christmas tree up by then, and the house decorated. It will be an early celebration.”

Ness’s eyes gleamed with eagerness, and she nodded enthusiastically. As she gushed over the invitation, Chris couldn’t help a spark of angry amusement. If she could see her own behavior, he was certain she would be embarrassed. She prided herself on being a young sophisticate, but right now, she was acting like an awestruck ingénue.

Finally, Hugh left them, and he managed to get Ness into his room to study. His mood, already soured, turned dourer yet when she turned up the lights. Chris had left out a stack of slow music that should have put her in a romantic mood. She eyed the CDs with a grimace. “Snoozeville. Don’t you have anything lively?”

He struggled to hide his displeasure. “Yeah, in the case.” When she selected an Outkast CD and loaded it into the stereo, his dwindling hopes for seducing her died. He wanted to believe he would have another chance next week, but it seemed unlikely with the way she and Hugh were all over each other. He was seething with jealously, but the worst part for him was trying to figure out of whom he was jealous. Was he angry with Hugh for capturing Ness’s attention, or was he angry with Ness for turning Hugh’s head and taking the other man’s focus from him? The fact that he had no idea plagued him almost as badly as the ugliness of the envy itself.

*****

When Hugh sent for Chris the next afternoon, he went into the study expecting to provide blood and sex. Instead, Hugh set him to work on a huge stack of filing, which he tackled without enthusiasm. Resentment burned in him still, and he’d been anticipating showing Hugh a measure of his hurt by not responding to his sexual overtures. Now that the other man had failed to make any, his anger flamed hotter, with no outlet. He slammed drawers and tossed around the files with careless disregard for fifteen minutes until Hugh finally spoke.

“Is something wrong, Chris?” he asked in a gentle tone.

“No,” said Chris shortly, shoving a file into the drawer with an exaggerated motion.

“Hmm.” Hugh fell silent for a long moment before speaking again. “This reminds me of many arguments I had with Lynne. I knew I had done something to displease her, but she would never tell me what.”

“Fascinating.”

Hugh stood up, walking around the desk to stand beside Chris. He removed the file he had been holding, laying it on the stack. When he took his hand, Chris tried to tug it away, but Hugh held him firmly. “I have obviously angered you. I can’t fix the problem until you tell me what I’ve done wrong.”

Looking into his lover’s eyes, Chris realized just how petulantly he was behaving. His shoulders sagged, and the tension left his body. “Never mind. It really isn’t important.”

Hugh squeezed his hand. “If it upsets you, it’s important. Tell me what’s going on. Please?”

Chris nodded, trying to phrase what he wanted to say. “I was jealous of how you were with Ness.”

Hugh put his arm around Chris’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I did not think of your emotions. She is the young woman you mentioned you have feelings for?”

Chris nodded. “But it wasn’t just—”

Before he could finish, Hugh took his hand to lead him down the hallway. “I have something to show you.”

He held his hand, following without trying to speak again. Curiosity kept him beside Hugh until they reached the other man’s bedroom. “What did you want to show me?” It seemed unlikely that Hugh had seduction in mind in light of what they had been discussing, so he didn’t understand why they were entering his bedroom.

Hugh released his hand to walk to the armoire. He opened the teak doors to reveal it wasn’t an armoire at all. Rather, it was an elaborate case for a full-length oil painting. “Do you see?”

Chris’s mouth gaped open. “Ness,” he whispered. But it couldn’t be. For one thing, the woman in the painting wore a lilac dress reminiscent of sometime in the Victorian era. He walked closer to get a better look. Now he could see differences between the women. The one in the painting had a rounder face, with lower cheekbones. Her lips were fuller than Ness’s, and her eyes were a lighter shade of blue. But the noses were practically the same, down to the dusting of freckles across the bridge, and the hair color was almost an exact match, though Ness wore hers layered and straight, while the woman in the picture sported fat ringlets under the lilac and lace hat.

He reached out to touch the painting, but thought better of it. With hand extended in midair, he turned his head to look at Hugh. “Who is she?”

“My wife.”

Chris closed his eyes, feeling a pang shoot through him. It made him feel terrible that the twinge was his own pain, not empathy for Hugh. If Hugh wanted Ness because she reminded him of his wife, Chris would never win her. She was clearly enamored with the older man. He felt as though he had already lost her, despite the fact he had never really had her.

“I was…startled by her resemblance. Do you understand, Chris?”

He nodded, gritting his teeth.

Hugh’s tone gentled. “No, I don’t think you do. I wanted to know your young lady, because for a few moments, I saw the chance to have my wife again. However, it didn’t take more than five minutes to realize that couldn’t happen.”

“Why not?” asked Chris with a frown.

The smile on his face reflected his melancholy. “I can’t recapture what is lost, because there is no other woman like my wife, even Ness. She is not Lynne, not even fully in appearance. Your Ness is much different in personality and temperament than my Lynne.”

“She’s not my Ness.” Chris couldn’t hide the pain when he added, “She’d like to be yours though.”

Hugh closed the armoire before taking the hand Chris had forgotten he was holding outward. “She was attracted to me, but she is attracted to you too, Chris. If she is what you want, I will do my best to help you win her heart.”

Chris dropped his head. “I don’t know what I want,” he said with a growl of frustration. “I want her…but I also want you. More than I ever expected.” He lifted his head finally, losing himself in the silvery pools of his lover’s eyes. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Hugh.”

Hugh’s eyes widened. “I thought I had done something to frighten you. You have been distant when we make love.”

He stepped closer, putting his hands on Hugh’s shoulders. “I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do. This was supposed to be just a job.”

“I feel the same.” Hugh rubbed his cheek against Chris’s hand. “I have never felt anything like this for my other assistants. Only one other time have I experienced such strong emotions, and that was for Lynne.” He lifted a hand to cup Chris’s cheek. “When I was with her, knew I loved her, I wanted to spend eternity with her. When she offered me immortality to be with her, I had no hesitation.” Silence stretched as Hugh seemed to search for words. “After she died, I locked away my heart, because it was safer. I didn’t expect you to touch it, Chris. Had I known I would feel something for you, I probably would have sent you away.”

That hurt. The words and the thought of never having known Hugh. In an attempt to evade the pain, he reeled away from Hugh, turning his back to hide the shine of moisture in his eyes. He jumped when Hugh put a hand on his shoulder.

“That would have been a mistake,” said the other man in a soft whisper. “What I am discovering with you is reawakening me. You are transforming me, even more so than when Lynne transmitted the vampire virus to me.” His voice sounded laden with hurt when he continued. “That’s why it breaks my heart to think of you leaving me, but I want you to be happy. If your lady will make you happy, then you should pursue her until she is won.”

Chris turned, taking the other man into his embrace. “I want…I don’t know what I want, except this, right now.” He kissed Hugh, probing the other man’s mouth with his tongue. He deliberately pierced his tongue on one of Hugh’s fangs to dribble blood into his mouth. Hugh’s groan rewarded him for the small pain, as did the way the other man’s arms enfolded him.

They held each other tightly for a long time, lost in the shared kiss. It varied between gentle and rough, demanding and giving, as the tempo changed. One moment, Hugh led, and the next, Chris was taking charge.

Somehow, they migrated to the bed without Chris being fully conscious of the steps that led them there. All he knew was one minute, he stood with Hugh in his arms, and the next, they were pressed together on the bed, tearing at each other’s clothes in a passionate frenzy.

Chris was the first to bare his lover from the waist up, and he took advantage of it by raking his fingers across Hugh’s nipples, making him moan. The crisp hair on his chest caught Chris’s fingers, as if trying to keep him from ever letting go. He smoothed them gently, before once again scratching lightly over his nipples.

“What are you doing to me?” asked Hugh through gnashing teeth. Perspiration dotted his forehead, trailing down toward his eye.

“I hope I’m driving you wild.” Chris darted forward to catch the drops of sweat before they could reach Hugh’s eye. He licked them away prior to moving his mouth lower, to press gentle kisses to his eyelids.

“You are.” Hugh removed his polo shirt and tossed it without looking. “Shall I do the same?”

“You already do just by being here.” Chris kissed his cheek, moving his mouth toward the other man’s ear. Upon reaching his target, he took the lobe into his mouth to suck gently, offsetting the tenderness with a nip that made Hugh jump.